US4526A - Improvement in the mode o - Google Patents

Description

1 Nrrn rrns J. F. VINSLOY, OF TROY, NFV YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MODE OF MANUFACTURING MALLEABLE IRON DIRECTLY FROM 'THE ORES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 4,526, dated May 16, 1846.

To @ZZ whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN F. VINsLoW, of Troy, in the county of Rensselaer and State of New York, have invented new and usef'ul Improvements in the Process of Manufacturing Malleable Iron Directly from the Ore, and in the furnace therefor; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the principle or character which distinguishes my invention from all other things before known, of the mode of proccdure, and of the apparatus employed therefor, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure l is an elevation of a reverberatory furnace; Fig. L., a longitudinal vertical section; Fig. 3, a cross vertical section taken at the line X X of Fig. 2, and Fig. 4L a horizontal section taken at the line Z Z of Fig. 2.

The same letters indicate like parts in all the figures.

My improved process is applicable to the treatment of oxides of iron only, and this I effect in reverberatory furnaces, although some parts of the process may be applied in furnaces without the reverberatory feature.

It has long been essayed to reduce the oxides of iron directly into the metallic state by heating the ores mixed with carbonaceous matter, with the view to produce deoxidatiou and then to transfer the mass thus treated to the puddling process; but in all these, which have so farbeen unsuccessful,theupperstratum only of the mass of ore and ca-rbon was exposed to the direct action of the heat and iiame, instead of the whole mass, and to avoid this evil it has been suggested to apply heat to the mass of ore and carbon below as well as above by placing the fire-grate directly under the furnace hearth or floor and then reverberating the fiame and passing it over the charge. This modification, while it removes the leading objection of the process above indicated, introduces practical difficulties. of such niagnitude as to defeat the contemplated object.

My improvements effectually avoid these difficulties; and they consist in exposing the mass of pulverized ore mixed with carbonaceous matter to the combined action of a gentle llame or heat and currents of heated air passing through the mass, which in their passage not only agitato the mass to`aid the mechanical liberation of the gases evolved, but aid in evolving the gases from the oxide and carbon, which in their nascent state combine and revive the metallic particles. The mass is then subjected to the combined action of a more intense dame and to highly-heated currents of carbureted-hyd rogen gas that pass through the mass and take up the remaining oxygen of the ore and revive the metallic particles, and then the mass passes to the paddling process, where it is subjected to a still more intense heat and I to the action of jets of highly-heated atmospheric air, to consume the carbonaceous matter and free it from other impurities. For the application of my improved process Ihave made important modications in the wellknown reverberatory furnace, which for this purpose is made of much greater length than those heretofore used.

In the accompanying drawings, which represent the furnace as modified, a is the grate and Z) the puddling hearth or floor, separated from the grate by the bridge c. The hearth is made with a slight inclination or pitch from the working-door d toward the hole e, for the discharge of the slag, &c. At the side opposite the bridge the furnace is narrowed by means of two jamb-walls, ff, to narrow the iiame and damp itsintensity, and beyond these jamb-walls there is a flat cast-iron chamber, (divided into two compartments by a partition, L) g l1, the top j of which inclines upward at an angle of about ten degrees, the-lower and forward end being on a level with the edge of the working-bottom or hearth. This top plate is perforated with small holes of about threeeighths of an inch in diameter, for the passage of the blast of heated atmospheric air from the chamber g, and of carbureted hydrogen from the other chamber, h. To prevent this top plate, j, from being over-heated, it is made of sufficient thickness to admit of siphontribes or water-passages k, which commence at one edge, pass along between two rows of blastholes, around the end o f one, and then back between two other rows to the edge lof the plate, to form the communication with a coldwater chamber, Z, at the side to establish a circulation of water through the tubes or passages. The reverberating top or arch m of the furnace extends over this perforated plate to the chimney a, which is provided with a door at o for the admission of the charge.

Along the front of the furnace there are two l other doors, p and q, one for giving admission to and the occasional stirring of the charge over the chamber hand the other for working or balling the iron.

rlhe blast of air which is introduced in the chamber g may be heated in any known manner; but that which I have practiced is by passing it from the usual blower through a series of tubes, i', arranged in the chimney and leading to the chamber g, and the pipe which leads from the heating-tubes to this chamber should be provided with a regulating-valve. For the supply of carbureted hydrogen, the material from which the gas is generated-such as resin-is placed in a vessel, s, situated on top of the arch and near the chimney, where it receives sufficient heat to melt the resin, &c., which passes from the box through the pipe t into the chamber h, which answers the lpurpose of a retort for the generation of gas, in consequence of its proxim-` ity to the re, and as the gas is generated it is driven through the apertures in the top plate and through the charge above. The pipe that forms the communication between the vessel s and the chamber or retort h should be provided with a cock to regulate the supply of melted resin or oth'er material used for the production of the carburetedhydrogen gas.

The blast of heated atmospheric air for the puddling is obtained from the chamber g by forming a communication between this chamber and the tuyeres n u-one on each side of the working-door-by means of the pipes v n, and these pipes should be provided with cocks or valves in the usual manner, to enable the workman to regulate the supply of heated air, as may be required by the condition of the process. rlhe ore, previously pulverized or granulated and well mixed with pulverized vegetable or mineral coal in proportions varying according to the quality of the ore, is introduced through the door o and spread over that part of the perforated plate which covers the air-chamber y. The charge is laid on as thick as the capacity of the furnace will admit without interfering with the draft. It is there exposed to the action of the reverberated llame and the hot-air blast from the chamber g, which, passing through the numerous small holes in the plate, is diffused through the mass of ore and carbonaceous matter, thereby aiding in the process of decomposition and purification of the mass. Then the workman perceives that the mass begins to cohere, the effeet being produced first on that portion of the mass nearest the grate, he gradually transfers it to that part of the perforated plate which lies over the chamber 7L or gas-retort, where it is subjected to the joint action of a more intense flame and carbureted hydrogen, to take up and remove the remaining portions or traces of oxygen and revivify the metallic portions. From this part of the process the mass is transferred to the working-bottom or puddling operation, where the mass is heated with the hot-blast to extract the remaining portions of carbonaceous matter, and as the slag is produced and separated it ows through the hole e. The transfer of the mass and the repetition of the charge is conducted in such manner as to correspond withthe puddling operation.

In the last part of the operation, should it appear to the workman that the mass contains any portion of oXide-a condition well known to experienced puddlers-a small quantity of flowers of lime-may be introduced as a flux, to complete thedecomposition and increase the yield of metal.

Any mode of heating the blast for the first part of the deoxidizing and the puddling processes may be employed, as this makes no part of myinvention. N or do I wish to conne myself to the use of ,carbureted hydrogen in the second part of the deoxidizing process, or to the mode described of generating the gas, as I contemplate using hydrogen as well as carbureted hydrogen, generated in any desired manner, and I have only described the above mode as that which I have essayed and deem the simplest and most econominal.

I do not claim as my invention simply the employment of a blast of atmospheric air in the puddling-chamber, this having been done heretofore with cold air in puddling pig-iron, and with heated air to consume the carbonic oxide evolved from the fire-chamber, while I employ it in a highly-heated state to consume the carbonaceous matter mixed with the ore.

Vhat I claim as my invention in the process of making malleable iron directly from thel orc is- Y l. The passage of heated atmospheric air through the mass of ore and carbonaceous matter in the process of deoxidizing, as herein described. 1

2. The passage of hydrogen or carburetedhydrogen gas through the mass in the process of deoxidizing iron ore, substantially as described, whether this be done after the ore has been partly deoxidized by the previous part of the process or not.

3. Treating the mass inthe puddling-cham ber with a blast of highly-heated atmospheric air to consume the carbonaccous matter, substantially as herein described.

4. In the furnace above described, making the plate or bed on which the ore is placed for deoxidizing with numerous perforatons for the introduction and passage of highlyheated atmospheric air or other gases through the mass, for the purpose and in the manner described.

5. The perforated plate or bed, as described, in combination with the puddling-chamber,

as described. p

JNO. F. WINSLOIV. Witnesses:

CHAs. M. KELLER,

A. P. BROWNE.

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